


The Water Is Rising

by equinope



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Eren has a Southern accent, Eren rescues Levi from a flood kinda, Existentialism, Fluff, Hange has a huge ass truck, Just a whole lotta Eren and Levi talking, M/M, Nonbinary Hange Zoë
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-11
Updated: 2016-12-11
Packaged: 2018-09-08 00:05:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8821693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/equinope/pseuds/equinope
Summary: It's the infamous Texas Flooding of Summer 2015 (very famous why don't you know about it, jeez) and Levi steals Erwin's SUV and gets it stuck in flood water. He calls his friend Hanji to save him in their huge ass truck, but they've never been very reliable. So, it's up the mysterious southern gentlemen with a boat, Eren Jaeger, to sweet talk Levi into allowing himself to be rescued by a complete stranger.





	

**Author's Note:**

> so i live in Texas, if you couldn't tell by my little note of sarcasm in the summary, and there was this HUGE flooding in June 2015. like roads all over Houston were shut down, buildings and houses flooded out, school even closed for a day or two i think.   
> it inspired me to write this little thing. i just found it today. don't know why i never posted it. probably because it's really just self-indulgent lol. well, here you go.

I held my phone to my ear with my shoulder, staring down at the swirling water below me. It was filthy. Absolutely filthy. The greens and the tans and the browns churned together like some kind of fucked up bath bomb. There were chunks of debris floating along with the current - everything from sticks to Chick-fil-A cups to tire treads to plastic shovels - not that you could see half of it though. The water was so murky you couldn’t even make out your own shoes two feet under. And trust me, I would know. I’d been walking in the shit stream. 

I tapped my fingers impatiently on the cement barrier I was sitting on, listening to the phone ring and ring and ring and ring and ring until finally, they picked up. 

_ “Heyyy, Levi! You never call me! Are ya surviving the flood?” _ A shrill, excited voice shouted through the phone. I had to move it away from my ear a little in order to get adjusted to the extreme volume. 

“Hardly. Listen, I-”

_ “Ohmygosh, Levi, guess what?! I think there’s fish in my backyard! It’s insane! So earlier today, I ventured outside and-” _

“Hanji, please. I really-”

_ “No no no, Levi. This is a really good story, you gotta hear it. So my neighbor has a canoe in his shed, right? And I-” _

“Hanji, for the love of God, please shut up for one second. I’ll gladly listen to your story later if you’ll just let me talk right now. It’s urgent.”

_ “Urgent? Oh no!” _

“Yes, exactly.  _ Oh no _ ,” I said monotonously. “I need you to pick me up in your huge ass truck. Like, ASAP.”

_ “What?! Where? Why? When? How-” _

“One question at a time, please.”

_ “What’s wrong, Levi?! Where are you?” _

“I’m somewhere on 2920 in the middle of fucking nowhere.” I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose, humiliated that I had to say this. “I drove into flood water and now I’m stuck.”

_ “Holy shit, Levi! Why are you calling me?! Call the cops! They have rescue crews for that kinda thing!” _

I sighed again, louder this time, and layed down on the cement barrier. “There’s also one other problem. A slightly illegal problem.”

_ “Oh God. What is it?” _

“The car I’m driving isn’t mine.”

_ “LEVI?!” _

“I stole it from Erwin to fuck with him.”

_ “LEVI?!?” _

“I was just gonna go park it in a field somewhere and make him go find it, but then shit kinda went downhill and now I’m sitting on the side of the road with a drowned, stolen car.”

_ “LEVI!!?!?!” _

“The water is rising. Time is ticking.”

Hanji made some kind of inhuman sound and then started saying,  _ “I’m coming!”  _ repeatedly. 

There was a small bang, and then a louder crash, and then I said, “What the fuck is going on over there?”

_ “Um, It’s kinda storming pretty bad here. I think we have a severe thunderstorm warning and like three separate flood warnings, but don’t worry! I’m coming to save you, Levi! Hold in there!” _

I nearly crushed the phone in my hand. “Hanji, you fucking idiot! Don’t come get me if it’s storming there! I can just call someone else-”

_ “No, I will save you!” _ Hanji screeched. It was like they couldn’t even hear me. The sound of pouring rain overpowered most of their next words, but I could faintly make out,  _ “The huge-ass truck is on the way!”  _

“HANJI, GET THE FUCK BACK INSIDE!” I roared. But it was too late. The triple beep that came out of the speaker indicated that they had already hung up - or lost signal. I swore under my breath and dropped the phone down onto my stomach in defeat. Hanji was going to get themselves killed and it was going to be completely my fault. That dumbass cared about me too much for their own good. 

I raised my arms up and rested them on my forehead, staring up at the sky. It was cloudy and dismal, as it had been for weeks on end. The first big storm was actually kind of enjoyable - I loved a good storm - but then they just kept coming. And coming. And by the fifth storm, I was not enjoying it anymore. No one was. After a few days, the area I lived in had started getting 7 storms a week, at least. Rivers were overflowing, highways were flooding out, basements were being destroyed, even entire neighborhoods were being evacuated. Some were calling it the apocalypse. I just think Mother Nature was bored and felt like breaking a 200 year old rainfall record. Thunder rumbled in the distance and I looked around the swampy landscape for more lightning to go with it, but there wasn’t. No rain either. Typical. There was a storm constantly brewing, but it would only break out of the clouds a few times a day. And a few times too many, if you asked me.

I rolled my shoulders and sighed, trying to relax and sink my back into the rigid cement. My arms were extremely sore from trying to move Erwin’s piece of shit car, and my legs were sore from wading through filth-laced water. I didn’t want to move ever again. If Hanji ever showed up I would make them carry me. I glared up at the bitter sky, blaming it for all my problems, and then closed my eyes.

\- - -

I hadn’t even realized I’d fallen asleep when I had a very rude awakening. As I drifted out of my nap, I began to notice something gripping my ribs on one side and something else gripping my right thigh. Then I felt the entire left side of my body being pressed against something. And finally, I realized I was slightly swaying. I was moving. No, I was  _ being  _ moved.

My eyes immediately shot open. I couldn’t process where I was, but I did know that I was not on the cement barrier anymore, and that was not okay. I began flailing around, smacking something with my fist before falling towards the ground. The disgusting flood I’d fallen asleep surrounded by was suddenly right below me. I broke through the scum-coated surface with a splash, my ass entering the water first and my tailbone making contact with the concrete floor right after. I was submerged for only a few seconds before I was being dragged out again by the same hands that dropped me. My instincts told me to resist, so I did. I tried my hardest to twist and turn myself free while soaking wet and practically half-asleep. Of course, I failed. 

“Calm down, calm down! It’s okay! You’re okay,” an unfamiliar voice said from right above me. I could feel the words in the stranger’s chest as they were spoken and I didn’t like it. It was too close. I was being held against someone’s chest bridal style, water from my dripping body soaking into their flannel shirt - too close. I looked up at the person who was definitely not Hanji and their bright, green eyes met mine - way too close.  _ Way  _ too close. I tried to sink lower and roll away from the person, but they just pulled me back up again. Pressing my hands against their flat chest, I tried to push myself away, but they had a shockingly strong grip on me. I was starting to contemplate where I could bite this abductor to get them to drop me when said abductor spoke again. 

“Dude, calm down. I'm trying t'be a hero here."

"I don't need a hero! Put me down!" I hissed. With the movement of my mouth, fresh flood water dribbled down my face and in between my lips. I frantically started sputtering and coughing in an attempt to get the sewage out of my system. 

"From the looka things, I think you do," the person said, sounding a little amused. In one swift movement, I was set down on some unstable surface. My body swayed with it from side to side, and I gripped the wood I was placed on so I wouldn't fall over.

"Hold on, it's not real sturdy," the person warned. I was about to thank them for the late warning when I actually realized what I was resting in - a boat. I was in a pile on the floor of a rotting, whitewashed, wooden boat. Erwin's car was a few feet away, still trapped in water, and I was in a fucking boat. 

"Are you Hanji's neighbor? The one with the canoe?" I questioned.

"Hanj-who?" The person stepped into the boat across from me and sat on a rectangular chunk of wood. I assumed it was supposed to be a seat. I peeked over my shoulder and saw that I was leaning against an identical wooden block. 

"Hanji. They didn't send you?"

"Uhh, I dunno anyone with that name." 

I glanced up at the person who claimed to be my hero, really looking at him for the first time. He was sitting in front of me, facing me  with a broken oar in his hand, slouching downward with an arched back. Strands of chestnut hair hung in front of his tropical eyes as he stared down at me curiously. The front of his flannel was drenched with water, along with the ends of his pants. He was barefoot and wearing khaki pants that were rolled midway up his calves. He had a good body aside from his posture, which was God awful, and a nice face. The youthful look about him was uncommon compared to most people in the area. His bright eyes and glowing skin were unusual and refreshing. 

"Who the hell are you?" I asked. My question seemed to echo across the water. Thunder rumbled not too far off and I thought I felt a raindrop. The man's bubbling laugh broke the tension in the air. 

"M'name's Eren," he said, holding out his hand. "Do you wanna sit? You don't look too comfortable down there."

I reached out to meet what I thought was a handshake, but as soon as our fingers touched, Eren was pulling me up off the floor of the boat. 

"Ah, fuccckkk," I hissed as my back straightened. The impact from the fall into the water was definitely going to leave a bruise. It was hard to keep myself standing, especially with the boat rocking on the water. My legs started to shake and weaken with the pain.

"Oh my God, are you okay?" Eren's hands were suddenly gripping my biceps. He was holding me up, and then leading me down on to the seat across from his. 

"I'm fine, I'm fine," I barked, swatting his hands away. He looked at me with concern, but removed them and sat back down anyway. I massaged my lower back, holding in a wince. I'd really fucked up my tailbone. 

"Are you sure?" Eren pressured.

"Yes, I'm fan-fucking-tastic," I said, but the putrid water dripping down my body and the throbbing in my back said otherwise. My clothes stuck to my skin, my hair clung to my forehead, I probably wouldn't be able to walk right for weeks, and I was fucking pissed. 

"I take it your car got stuck in the water?" Eren said, motioning towards Erwin's immobile SUV. I sighed and pushed my hair out of my face in frustration. Just another reason to be pissed.

"Yes, it did," I replied reluctantly. 

Eren smiled at me sympathetically and said, "Well no worries! Me and Sandy here can get you to the nearest town." He patted the side of the boat, the vibrations sending ripples down the road.

"Sandy?" 

"Yeah, the boat. Her name's Sandy." He grinned and grabbed the sides of the boat, shaking it back and forth. 

"Stop! Stop! Stop!" I ordered. The motion put stress on my spine and was not helping with the pain. Eren glanced at my white knuckles as I gripped the seat on the either side of me. He slowly eased the boat back into stillness.

"Are you sure you're okay? You were kinda passed out on that  _ cee-meant _ before. I thought you were dead at first."

I shook my head. "I was just waiting for someone."

"Did they ever show up?"

"No. I think I might have called them to their death. They got caught in a storm."

"Oh no! Do they live north of here?"

I narrowed my eyes at him in suspicion. "Yes, actually. Why?"

"There's a storm just north of us right now. It's not too bad, but that's probably causing the thunder we're hearing." Right on cue, there was a crash of thunder in distance. Eren chuckled. "Hey, there it is!"

The stranger smiled up at the sky, his eyes bright with interest, and I got this urge to smile along with him. I didn't, of course, but the feeling was there. 

"Well, I'm sorry your friend hasn't shown," Eren said after a few moments. "I hope they're alright."

"Eh, they'll be fine. I swear, they can survive anything."

"Well I hope they make it. My offer still stands, though. I can row you to high ground if you, uh, don't wanna sit here and wait all by yourself." 

"I didn't know I was getting a choice in the matter. You sort of carried me into this fucking death trap against my will." My voice had its regular acidity to it and my eyes were set in their usual glare, but it was like Eren saw right past it, like he was immune to it. He actually  _ laughed  _ at my words, all bubbly and toothy. My heart fluttered in my chest.

"Hey! Sandy is not a death trap," he protested. 

I just shrugged and said, "I guess it  _ does  _ float."

"Damn right she does! She's carried tons of people out of this flood. Now do you want a ride or not?" He lifted his single oar and started swirling it in the mucky liquid around us.

"I was wondering why you hadn't started rowing yet, actually," I said.

He rolled his eyes as his lips curled upwards. "I'm gonna take that as a yes." 

The boat lurched to the side a little as he dug the paddle into the water. I glanced back at Erwin's car worriedly, dollar signs flashing through my mind. Eren removed the paddle and steadied the boat again.

"Dude, I wouldn't even worry about that," he said. I peeked out the corner of my eye to him looking at the SUV as well. "There's no way you're gonna be able to get that thing out of here any time soon. And once you  _ are  _ able, it probably won't even run anymore."

"For fucks sake," I cursed, glaring down the waterlogged road. Erwin was going to fucking murder me. 

"Hey, cheer up! Cars are replaceable. Just be happy that you didn't get hurt too bad." He grinned at me, his eyes wandering around my face. "'Cuz you're not replaceable!"

My glare increased as I felt my cheeks heat up. That was kind of cute I suppose - but only kind of. I clicked my tongue and muttered, "Yeah, let's just leave it and get going." He nodded in agreement. 

So the strange and strangely endearing man named Eren that came to me out of nowhere on a rickety, old boat started roaring backwards with one oar, telling me I was going to have to be his eyes. He held the oar to the right, pushed it through the rancid water, then swung it around and did the same on the left. He did this over and over again, creating a nice rhythm with the movement and the splashes, gently turning when I told him to avoid something in the water. It was almost soothing. I relaxed into the seat as much as I could and scowled up at the stormy sky. It was disturbing millions of people's lives; it deserved a scowl. 

"So, who the hell are  _ you _ ?" Eren asked after a few minutes of nature's silence. I looked up from the rippling water and stole a glance at him. He was looking at me with wondering eyes.

"Levi," I answered.

"Hmm, what do you study, Levi?" 

"Petroleum engineering." I muttered an, "I suppose," after because of the weirdly worded question. 

"Woah, I hear that's where the money's at."

"I suppose."

"I'm not really into the whole  _ bathing in money  _ thing. I'm going for architectural."

At that, I began to catch on to Eren's assumptions. They were wrong ones that I was used to hearing, so I just went with it. "Where at?"

"Karanese. You're in Sina, right?"

"Uh, no, I'm in Rose." 

"Why do you have a Sina University bumper sticker then?"

I chuckled to myself. Apparently he wasn't just guessing that I was a student, he thought he had proof. "That's my friend's car, not mine. He's a professor there. Good eye, though."

Eren gaped at me. "You realize you just ruined your friend's car, right? He's probably never gonna be able to drive that again."

"Who was the one just saying that cars are replaceable?"

He ducked his head a little, seeming embarrassed. "Yeah, I guess you're right." 

There was another lapse in the talking. The clouds rumbled, threatening to downpour. A breeze blew through the forests of Austrian pines and live oaks. Leaves, sticks, and random shit continued to swirl around in the water. I took a deep breath of thick, muggy air and sighed. Then Eren spoke up again.

"Okay, so your friend's a professor at Sina. What about you? You said you were in Rose, so does that mean Hermina? Stohess? Yalkell...?" he said, listing off schools with tilts of his head.

"Hermina," I answered somewhat truthfully.

"Jesus, you must be a genius. What year?"

I paused and stared at him blankly, giving him a few last seconds to catch on to the truth. I thought accentuating the dark circles under my eyes with a deadpan expression would add on some years, but apparently it wasn't noticeable enough. When Eren continued to stare at me expectantly, I sighed and said, "Class of 2011."

That seemed to cut a wire in his brain or something. He just stared at me, unmoving. He wasn't even paddling anymore. A chunk of hair fell in between his eyes and he didn't even bother to blow it away like every other time. I sat up a little straighter and leaned forward.

"I graduated five years ago. Master's in Petroleum Engineering," I added on. "Currently the project manager of a new line in the Gulf."

After that, Eren snapped out of his shock. "Shit, I- I thought- You looked- I'm so sorry-"

"It's fine, I get that a lot. Quite frequently actually."

"You just look young, like my age. I just went right on and assumed you were a student. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry-" He stopped and stuttered for a second before adding on a mumbled, "-sir".

I frowned at that. He picked up the oar to start paddling again, and I nudged his foot with the tip of my boot. He looked up from his lap at me with his lip being gnawed between his teeth. 

"You don't need to call me that." He looked like he was going to protest, so I said, " _ Don't _ call me that." 

"It's just a way of showing respect."

"I don't deserve your respect. Sure, I might be a little older than you, but I'm also the one who stole his friend's car and drove it into three feet of water. You go around in a boat saving people. I'm not the one earning respect."

Eren stayed silent for a moment, as if he didn't know how to reply to that, and then said, "How old are you? If you don't mind me asking."

I told him I was 29 and a little smile grew on his face.

"Oh, that's not too bad," he said.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean, I’m 22, so we’re at least in the same- I don’t know, what would you call it? Decade? Generation?” He paused and started studying my face again. “When were you born? I’m too lazy to do the math.”

“These are very personal questions for a casual conversation between strangers,” I said, giving him a hard time just for the hell of it. And, damn, was I secretly glad that I did, because he paused his rowing and placed his chin in his hands, resting his elbows on his knees and leaning forward a little.

Suddenly staring like he was interested in much more than just talking with me, he lowered his voice and said, “I dunno about you, Levi, but I don’t care much for formalities.”

So we skipped the formalities. We leapt right over the “getting to know you” phase and dove straight into the “let’s talk about the meaning of life” phase. It started with Eren bringing up Erwin’s destroyed car again, and him asking for my view on the importance of owning things versus having experiences. By the time we reached a point on the road where there wasn’t much water left to float in, we’d covered religious views, our own funeral plans, the possibility of world peace, and the existence of fate. We were eventually interrupted by the horn of a huge ass truck.

Hanji ran over to me, splashing water everywhere in their fishing waders. Completely ignoring Eren’s presence, they lifted me out of the boat and spun me around, screaming about how happy they were that I was alive.

“It’s a miracle that  _ you’re _ alive,” I argued, swallowing almost all of my pride and hugging them back. 

I introduced them to Eren, and I could tell by the look in their eyes that they already wanted to become best friends with him. It was probably the southern twang. They were always a sucker for that. 

“Thank you, Eren,” I told him, when I felt like it was time to get out of the water and confront my impending murder. I gulped down the rest of my pride and gave him a smile. “I don’t really know how to repay you. Do you want money or something?”

He grinned back at me, teeth seeming to glow against the dreary background of cloudy skies and flooded highways. “No, not at all. Just seeing your smile is good enough payment for me.”

I tried to ignore the faint squealing sound from Hanji and the sound of my own heart pounding in my chest. “Well, thanks,” I simply repeated, because how the hell was I supposed to compete with lines like that? “See you around, Eren.”

Hanji started to skip off towards their car, and I began to follow, but Eren grabbed my arm and pulled me back. He looked panicked. He said his life would be lacking in grumpy old men and philosophical discussions if we never talked again. I said those didn't sound like necessities and he said they were to him, with sparkling green eyes and that shining grin. So I gave him my number and told him to let me know if he needed any help saving dumbasses like me from the flood. 

I got a call two days later. He said there were dumbasses that he needed help saving. I gave him my address and he took me to the waterlogged highway he patrolled. We floated around with Sandy, passing Erwin's car a few times, helping a husband and wife back to shore at one point, and discussed dinosaur DNA cloning and time travel. 

The next week the water was lower. Only one idiot businessman needed saving. We discussed the meaning of life and humanity's role in the universe.

The next week the bottom of the boat started scraping the concrete, so we got out and walked the streets. We discussed oblivion and mortality. 

The next week we didn't have an excuse to talk anymore, since the water had stopped rising - it was nearly gone. So Eren said "fuck it" and asked me out to dinner on a college student's budget. 

We ate ramen noodles and discussed the future and what it meant to be in love.

**Author's Note:**

> and out of the goodness of his heart, Erwin decided to not kill Levi. he just has to buy him a new Benz with that petroleum engineer's salary :D
> 
>  
> 
> thanks for reading! kudos/comments make me really happy (✿◠‿◠)
> 
> [main blog](http://sleeption.tumblr.com/) [anime blog](http://decemberseptember.tumblr.com/)  
> 


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